Collapsible umbrella



Nov. 4, 1952 R. H. THOMPSON 2,616,439

COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLA Filed May 24, 1949 INVENTOR RICHA RD HERBERT THOMPSON XLZZZ E ATTORNE Y Patented Nov. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLA Richard Herbert Thompson, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Application May 24, 1949, Serial No. 95,071

Claims. 1

My invention relates to improvements in collapsible umbrellas.

The objects of the invention are to provide an umbrella of the collapsible type wherein the shaft is contractile and the ribs are foldable, and the movements necessary to open or close the umbrella are simply those which are made in the manipulation of the standard umbrella, viz: to push the runner away from the handle to open it and to draw the runner towards the handle to close it.

Further objects are to provide an umbrella of this type which is simple in construction and light in weight, one which can be carried with the frame collapsed while hanging from the extended shaft, with the collapsed frame held against spreading.

The above and other advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a general view of an umbrella frame showing the shaft and one rib, in full line, fully extended as in open position and one rib, in dotted line, in closed or folded position.

Figure 2 is a detail view showing the rib swinging towards open or closed position.

Figure 3 is a detail view showing the frame with a rib in folded position and'the shaft extended.

Figure 4 is a detail view showing the rib as in Figure 3, but with the shaft contracted and all the rib parts held parallel to the shaft.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral l indicates generally a'telescopic shaft having an upper tube 2 and a lower tube 3 which telescopes into the upper tube. The upper tube 2 is fitted at its upper end with a spider 5 to which ribs 6 are hingedly connected for swinging movement in the usual way. Each rib 6 consists of a main rib portion 8 and an extension portion 9 which is adapted to be swung from a position where the portions 8 and 9 are parallel to each other and parallel to the shaft I, as shown in dotted line in Figure 1, tea position where both rib portions are substantially aligned with each other and extend radially from the shaft as shown in full line in, Figure 1.

The hinge connection between the portions 8 and 9 is a fold of metal at the outer end of the main rib 8 and is in the form of a pair'of plates outer end of the clip i8 is a further pair ofears 2| to which a link 22 is connected by a pin 23. It will be noticed that the portion 9 will be capable of folding parallel to the portion 8 and leave sufficient space for the fabric covering 25 indicated in dotted line in Figure 1, to lie without being pinched or otherwise damaged.

Slidably mounted upon the shaft I is a runner 21 having a spider 28 which supports a strut 29 for each rib 6. The outer end of each strut 29 is hingedly connected to ears 39 secured intermediate the length of the main rib portion 8, and hingedly connected to the strut adjacent its outer end, and offset below it, is aspring push pull wire 32. The push pull wire 32 is guided for sliding movement lengthwise adjacent the main rib portion 8 by a clip33 secured to said portion.- adjacent the hinge plates i and is hingedly connected at its outer end to the link 22 by a hinge pin 35.

The upper tube 2 is fitted with a conventional spring latch 37 for the purpose of supporting the runner 21 when in its uppermost position, as shown in Figure 1.

The lower tube 3 it fitted with a spring latch 38 having an inner landing 39 which is vertical to the tube axis and is of such width as to engage the end of the wall of the upper tube 2 and a substantially semi-circular landing 49 which normally would project beyond the wall of said upper tube for convenient engagement by the user and for other reasons which will later appear.

The runner 27 is provided at its lower end with and retain all the main rib portions close to the shaft 1, as shown in Figure 4,

It will be noticed that in fully collapsed position, the links 22 between the ends of the extension portions 9 and the outer end of the push pull wires 32 are perpendicular to the shaft 1 and bear against the bulge 43 of the bell 42, thus urging the outer ends of portions 9 inwardlytowards the shaft and maintaining all the frame parts closely bunched together, so that the um-' brella can be conveniently carried suspended from the handle with the entire structure being both neat and compact. The tips I5 engaging the rim 4'! of the cup 45 may serve to hold umbrella against extension.

To open the umbrella, the frame is grasped adjacent the cup 45 contracting its girth, so that The cup 45 is provided with an inner rim 4'! which serves to engage the tips IS the the cup can be disengaged from the tips I5 and the handle withdrawn, the runner 21 is then pushed up away from the handle to extend the shaft and to cause the ribs 6 to swing about their pivotal points to full open position. When the runner is latched in its uppermost position the main rib portion 8 is held outwardly by thrust from the strut 29 and the extension 9 is held substantially aligned with the part 3 by tension from the push pull wire 32. In collapsing, these functions are reversed and the push pull wire 32 thrusts through the link 22 to swing the extension rib portion through 180 degrees into folded position with the main rib portion 8.

If it is desired to carry the umbrella with the ribs collapsed and suspended from the extended shaft, the bulge 43 of the bell 42 will be hung up on the latch 38 as shown in Figure 3, thus preventing the weight of the ribs and associated parts from spreading and increasing the bulk of the umbrella.

Assuming the umbrella to be fully open with the shaft I extended and supported in such position by the latch 38, it is not necessary to depress this latch by hand since by releasing the latch 31 to free the runner 2'! and by moving the handle 46 and the runner 2'! towards each other the bell d2 strikes the latch 33, first depressing it to unseat the landin 39 from the end of the upper tube 2 and allow an initial movement of the lower tube 3 into it, then the inner end of the bell acts as a cam to further depress the latch 38 to the point where it can move freely into the tube, the movement being continued until the runner must be released and the ribs grasped and contracted about the shaft, so that their tips l5 can be clipped into the cup of the handle as shown in Figure 4.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A collapsible umbrella having a shaft and a frame supported upon the shaft, said frame having a plurality of jointed ribs, each of said ribs comprising a main rib portion hingedly connected to an end of the shaft and an extension portion hingedly connected to the main rib portion, a runner slidable upon the shaft, a strut connected at one end to the runner and at the other end to a point intermediate the length of the main rib portion, a guide upon the main rib portion, a push pull wire connected at one end to the strut slidably extending through the guide, and a link pivotally connected to the opposite end of the push pull wire and to an end of the rib extension portion.

2. A collapsible umbrella having a shaft and a frame supported upon the shaft, said frame having a plurality of jointed ribs, each of said ribs comprising a main rib portion hingedly connected to an end of the shaft and an extension portion hingedly connected to the main rib portion, a runner slidable upon the shaft, a strut connected at one end to the runner and at the other end to a point intermediate the length of the main rib portion, a guide upon the main rib portion, a push pull wire connected at one end to the strut slidably extending through the guide and a link pivotally connected to the opposite end of the push pull wire and to an end of the rib extension portion, and means carried by the shaft adapted when the umbrella is in collapsed position to contact an end of the link to urge the free end of the rib extension portion towards the shaft.

3. A collapsible umbrella having a shaft and a frame supported upon the shaft, said frame having a plurality of jointed ribs, each of said ribs comprising a main rib portion hingedly connected to an end of the shaft and an extension portion hingedly connected to the main rib portion, a runner slidable upon the shaft, a strut connected at one end to the runner and at the other end to a point intermediate the length of the main rib portion, a guide upon the main rib portion, a push pull wire connected at one end to the strut slidably extending through the guide and a link pivotally connected to the opposite end of the push pull wire and to an end of the rib extension portion, a cup at one end of the shaft adapted to engage ends of the main rib portions when the umbrella is in collapsed position to prevent said main ribs from swinging away from the shaft, and means slidable upon the shaft adapted to be engaged by an end of each link to urge the free ends of the extension rib sections towards the shaft.

i. A collapsible umbrella having a shaft and a frame supported on the shaft, said frame having a plurality of jointed ribs, each of said ribs comprising a main rib portion hingedly connected to an end of the shaft and an extension portion provided with a clip having a pair of ears by which the extension portion is hingedly connected to the main portion, and a second pair of ears extending from the end of said clip, a runner slidable upon the shaft, a strut connected at one end to the runner and at the other end to a point intermediate the length of the main rib portion, a spring push pull wire hingedly connected at one end to an intermediate part of the strut and a link hingedly connected to the other end of the wire and to the second pair of ears of the clip, and means for retaining the wire close to the main rib portion whereby the wire serves to resiliently retain the rib extension portion parallel to the main rib portion when the frame is closed.

5. A collapsible umbrella having a shaft and a frame supported upon the shaft, said frame having a plurality of jointed ribs, each of said ribs comprising a main rib portion hingedly connected to an end of the shaft and an extension portion hingedly connected to the main rib portion, a runner slidable upon the shaft, a strut connected at one end to the runner and at the other end to a point intermediate the length of the main rib portion and a push pull spring wire hingedly connected at one end to the strut intermediate the length of the strut and operatively connected to an end of the extension portion, and means for slidably retaining a portion of the push pull wire in close proximity to the main rib portion, whereby the pull on the spring wire serves to hold the extension portion in extended position when the frame is open and the spring tension of said spring wire urges said extension portion into parallel relation with the main rib portion when the frame is closed.

RICHARD HERBERT THOMPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file 'of'this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 100,012 Caldwell Feb. 22, 1870 1,018,941 Storm Feb. 27, 1912 1,249,007 Block Dec. 4, 1917 1,397,667 Wilson Nov. 22, 1921 1,964,292 Livingston June 26, 1934 2,063,624 Raab et al Dec. 8, 1936 

